At least two dead, hostages taken after jihadists attack tourist resort in Mali’s capital

An armoured vehicle drives toward Le Campement Kangaba resort following an attack where gunmen stormed the resort in Dougourakoro, to the east of the capital Bamako, Mali in this still frame taken from video June 18, 2017.

Jihadists are behind an attack on a tourist resort popular with Westerners on the edge of the Malian capital Bamako.

(Google Maps Street View)

Authorities believed the jihadists were holding hostages.

Commandant Modibo Traore, a spokesman for the Malian special forces in the former French colony, estimated there were three or four attackers.

Officials from the French military mission, the European Union and the U.N. were said to be at the resort this weekend.

A 2015 file photo shows the Radisson Blu hotel in Bamako. A tourist resort popular with Westerners in the same area was reportedly the target of Sunday’s attack.

(HABIBOU KOUYATE/AFP/Getty Images)

The violence came about a week after the U.S. State Department warned of “possible future attacks on Western diplomatic missions, other locations in Bamako that Westerners frequent.”

Religious extremism in Mali once was limited to northern areas, where an Al Qaeda affiliate is active. Jihadists have spread violence farther south, including an attack on the Radisson Blu hotel in Bamako in Nov. 2015 that left six Malians and 14 foreigners dead.